Wild Things 2025

The Village of Downers Grove has a commitment to stormwater management, to reduce flooding, and improve stormwater quality. This commitment led them to implement a stormwater utility fee, in order to improve stormwater management throughout the Village. This fee can be reduced for landowners if they provide qualifying rain barrels, rain gardens, permeable pavers, and other projects that reduce the total volume or peak volume of stormwater, and/or improve the quality of stormwater leaving a parcel. Examples include green roofs, cisterns, and other Best Management Practices. As part of the overall stormwater management plan, the Village of Downers Grove commenced its innovative Green Streets/ Sustainable Stormwater (Bioswale) Program in 2012.
The Bioswale Program is a public/private partnership developed to convert existing roadside drainage ditches into beautiful, beneficial landscape areas, at no cost to the homeowner. Each year, residents apply for a grant to construct a bioswale on their property, and funds are applied on a first-come, first-served basis. Village staff work with the homeowners to verify that the desired location is appropriate, to coordinate the design of the bioswale, and to assist in the selection of custom plants that are suitable for their site and that meet personal preferences. Upon approval, the Village prepares the site and installs live, native plants. The Village provides routine maintenance of each site, including mowing and weeding, for the first year, after which residents assume all management responsibility. Benefits of these bioswales are plentiful. The deep root systems of the native plants reduce stormwater runoff up to 30% and improve water quality of creeks and streams by filtering pollutants. Bioswales replenish ground water levels in local aquifers and reduce mosquitoes by absorbing stagnant water. They save time and money, as they require less watering and mowing than traditional landscaping, which also reduces air pollution. The bioswales enhance aesthetics while attracting wildlife, such as birds, butterflies, bees and dragonflies. Due to the success of these bioswales, consistent increases in homeowner applications to the Program have been noted.

I will share stories from the unmatched history of Chicagoland botany with emphasis on the parts (people, places and things) I experienced firsthand. Will include thoughts about the future regarding botany and natural history study.

The Chiwaukee Prairie-Illinois Beach Lake Plain is a stretch of connected natural areas on the western shore of Lake Michigan which spans across the Wisconsin-Illinois Border. The Lake Plain includes Kenosha Dunes, Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area, Spring Bluff Forest Preserve, Illinois Beach State Park, Hosah Park, and Waukegan Dunes and serves as the highest quality dune and swale ecosystem in the Chicago Region. The Lake Plain Collaborative, formally established in 2010 through MOU, is a concerted effort between state and local agencies, universities, non-profits and other organizations and individuals seeking to manage and protect the Lake Plain as one ecological unit. The Lake Plain Collaborative is now a widely recognized  alliance which cooperatively secures grant funding and fosters coordinated management and conservation efforts across the state line.

For several years, residents on the north side of Chicago have encouraged and helped their neighbors convert urban parcels into small habitats, learn about composting, and care for the urban forest canopy.  The 47th Ward hosts a Green Council which promotes environmental awareness and action and serves as a means for neighborhood groups to connect.  

Through community events hosted by each group and the ward, neighbors share best practices, resources and plants in their efforts to create healthy habitats in parkways and yards and on right of ways land, such as the Metra rail line. The area boasts over 10 community groups working together to create a more sustainable urban future. We would like to share our strategies and lessons learned with others.

In 2018, Lincoln Park Zoo (LPZ) launched the Bat Tracker program to monitor the bats of Chicago through a community science network. After seven years of bat walks by dozens of volunteers, we have recorded thousands of bat echolocation calls. West Ridge Nature Park (WRNP) has been part of the program since the beginning, and has expanded the data collection events to include members of the public, turning them into engaging public programs. In this presentation, LPZ staff will introduce the program, results to date, and next steps, while WRNP leaders will discuss their experience using Bat Tracker as part of their public outreach programming.

Fungi are among the most diverse and ecological important group of organisms on earth.  They also directly benefit people as food, sources of medicines, etc. Unfortunately, they are not immune to the threats that put species of animals and plants at risk including habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, loss of symbiotic hosts, pollution, over exploitation, and climate change. Yet, efforts to conserve them lag far behind actions on animals and plants.  Progress is being made, but there is much work yet to be done.  Because fungal diversity and distributions are still poorly documented, there is great opportunity for discovery.  Thus, community scientists can make significant contributions. There is a long history of amateur mycologists and other field naturalists contributing important data, but for the most part, their efforts have not been coordinated, and the results of their findings were often not captured.  While websites like iNaturalist and Mushroom Observer now provide a platform to capture observation data, the information on these sites are for the most part random observations, and efforts are not coordinated to target gaps in knowledge on species of interest. Several recent initiatives are addressing these issues and are providing individuals with the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to efforts focused on documenting fungal diversity and their conservation.

Achieving progress on conservation goals takes both political will and community support. But how can volunteers, program leaders, and communities build that kind of support? David is a strategic community communications professional with more than 20 years of experience working with non profits and green energy companies to build community support for conservation and green energy projects. Bridget has been working as a volunteer conservation commission leader for 8 years and has led the creation of a sustainability plan and two community restoration projects. We'll share tips and tricks to help mobilize community support and how to avoid pitfalls.